Have you got a children’s party coming up? Wondering what kind of party to host? From Crafty Party to Spy Party activities, Be Inspired with 10 More of the Best Party Theme Ideas for Kids that are sure to delight your child and give them the best party ever.
Sign up for our free monthly newsletters. Follow us on facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and see our Party boards on Pinterest.
# 1. Spy Party Theme Ideas
- Invitations: Invite each guest to a top secret location (your home or venue) Create a special spy name for each guest and a description of their character. Mark them top secret and deliver them to your guests. You could write invitees names in invisible ink aka Lemon Juice….once dried when heat is applied the name becomes visible. Names could be created by using a colour for the first name and noun for the 2nd part i.e. Purple Ivy or Green Zebra or Orange Cobra.
- Decorations: Create a Laser Zone using wool with mini bells attached, that kids have to get through without setting off the alarm! Make it so they have to climb over and under the wool. Dynamite can be created by painting paper roll tubes red and adding cotton wool inside and black wool as a fuse. Tie together with black tape and add an alarm clock or kitchen timer. Or create mini bombs by blowing up grey or black balloons and adding a red wool fuse to each.
- Costumes/Party Wear: Each guest must dress as per the description of their spy on their invitations.
- Party Food: Code breaking biscuits add a secret message to the top of each biscuit in icing. Fortune Cookies, dynamite rolls (sausage rolls), exploding buns, make cake pops and cover them in black icing. Use sweet strings or licorice as a fuse. And coat with popping candy. Popping Corn, make pop corn while the guests are there. Disguise Cakes add confectionery moustaches and glasses to cup cakes.
- Party Games: Code breaking games write messages in a secret code and get the children to decipher them. Or get them to create their own secret code, depending on age. Retrieve an object from the other side of a field of lasers (see above for set up). Set up a fingerprint station and get each child to add their finger prints twice, from the same hand, on a piece of card. Cut the cards so you have two sets of identical prints (10 cards in total for each player), Don’t mix them up but keep a complete set of each players prints and place them in the centre of the table. Shuffle the other set of print cards and give each player 5 cards. They must find the matching prints from the cards in the middle of the table. The winner is the one who matches the fingerprints quickest. Or you could play interrogation. Place a precious object in the centre of the room. One spy leaves and somebody steals the object. The Spy re-enters the room and must interrogate all the guests, one question per guest, to work out who is the thief. They get 3 guesses once they ask the questions and if they guess correctly, the thief becomes the spy and if not the spy must go out again and have another go. Treasure Hunt, hide an object and create clues that the spys must solve to find the object. Finally get guests to decipher who each spy is. Add the spy names you sent to guests to a hat. Pick out one name at a time and get guests to guess who each spy is. And if you still have time to spare, you could show an age appropriate spy movie or get the guests to film their own spy movie, which you can share with them later.
- Party Bags: Notebook and pencil, magnifying glass, mini ink pad for taking fingerprints, mini puzzle book or code book and you could create a mini secret agent card for each guest to show they have been through spy training!
Recommended Reading: This is the Only Birthday Party Checklist You’ll Ever Need
# 2. Disco Party Theme Ideas
- Invitations: Mulitcoloured or silver disco ball shaped cards could be used as invitations. Or a black silhouette of a dancer cut out and write in silver or neon pen. Or if can record, you could send a musical invite to each guest on a cd.
- Decorations: Disco Ball, flashing lights, balloons and streamers, lava lamps and a dark room to hold your disco in decorated with led mini lights. If you can’t get hold of a disco ball, blow up balloons, paint the bottom half in craft glue and dip them in glitter before hanging around the room.
- Costumes/Party Wear: Guests can dress in their favourite party wear or you could ask them to go all out and come in 70’s gear, jump suits, which are back in fashion again, leg warmers, brightly colours leggings and tops and for the boys, black jeans or trousers and brightly coloured shirts open at the neck with a medallion!
- Party Food: Disco Balls – Silver cake pops, fries and burgers or hot dogs and milkshakes are real 70’s disco food. As are nachos and to finish jelly shots and love hearts. Add sparkle sticks and stirrers to the drinks.
- Party Games: A good song play list is essential for the success of your disco themed party. You could also have a make up table where you can add peace signs and rainbow eyeshadow for guests. Dress Up – dig out all your old disco gear and get the kids to dress up in it, Dance Offs – get the kids to do their best dance moves and bring it down to 2 which the rest of the guests must vote for or play musical statues and Limbo games where you have to limbo under a stick that gets lower each time!
- Party Bags: Glitter tattoos, mini disco ball key rings, traffic light lolly pops or other 70’s candy sweets, headband, large plastic sunglasses in neon colours, neon wristbands and leg warmers and a cd of disco music from the party.
Recommended Reading: 10 of the Best Party Themes for Kids
# 3. Sleepover / Pyjama Party Theme Ideas
Image from Hungry Happenings
- Invitations: Depending on the age of the children you may just want to have a pyjama party so invite guests to arrive later in the evening than they would for a usual party or if they are staying the night, give a drop off and collection time. You could send the invitations in a plain pillowcase which guests must bring to the party to decorate.
- Decorations: Transform the room into a cosy sleeping pod with cushions all over the floor, add hanging canopies, and blankets to compete the look. Or put up a tent for them to ‘sleep’ in.
- Costumes/Party Wear: Pyjamas, slippers and dressing gowns.
- Party Food: Midnight feast treat bags for everyone, popcorn for the movie, smores and hot chocolate for late night treats. Make Cookie Slippers and If guests are staying over, have a pancake or waffle feast the next morning.
- Party Games: Customise pillowcases – buy some white cotton pillowcases and have each child decorate (#29 & 30) their own from a variety of decorations provided. Have a pillow fight. Spa treats – have a mini spa station for each party guest to have a manicure or a face mask or get them to create their own face masks (#27)! Show a movie in the tent or sleeping pod room. Musical sleepers – have each child dance to music and when the music turns off they must all lie down like they are asleep, Make dream catchers (#15) or lanterns (#9) or tea light holders (#13 & 14). Play chinese whispers. Have a hair makeover station. Have a spooky storytelling competition. Or get the guests to sit around in a circle and the party child starts a story with two lines and each guest adds to it. You could play this by writing the story down and folding the paper so you can’t see what came before or speak the story out loud. Get more inspiration on 11 Entertaining Sleepover Games.
- Party Bags: Eye masks for sleeping, matching pyjamas for all the guests, fluffy bed socks, nail polish, face mask, tooth brush, midnight feast treats. And each guest gets to bring home their crafts.
Recommended Reading: 20 Excellent Party Ideas
# 4. Home Cinema Party Theme Ideas
- Invitations: Create a clapboard out of cardboard for your invitations. Or a cinema tickets which each cild must present to gain entry to the ‘cinema’
- Decorations: Red drapes or material, seats placed in rows, screen or white sheet to screen your film onto, projector to screen the movie.
- Costumes/Party Wear: Regular clothes or you could ask each guest to dress up as their favourite movie character. Older siblings could dress as ushers and check tickets on the way in.
- Party Food: Popcorn, drinks with lids and straws, nachos and dips, create an ice-cream and a pick and mix station with candy striped bags and a weighing scales for guests to choose their own party treats.
- Party Games: The movie will be the main attraction but you could also have a film quiz or get the children to create a script and make their own short film which you could record and send onto them afterwards.
- Party Bags: Popcorn, pick and mix sweets, memorbilia from the film they watch, a mini torch, movie clapboard eraser.
# 5. Cookery Party Theme Ideas
- Invitations: Add a tag with the details of your party to a wooden spoon. Or send each child an apron with the details of the party.
- Decorations: Bunting, balloons, giant food cut outs.
- Costumes/Party Wear: Clothes that parents won’t mind getting flour and cooking mess on and aprons.
- Party Food: Well the beauty of this party is that the guests create their own party food. Have a menu with a starter, main course and dessert for each chid to make. Ensure it is good for their ability. Starters could include cheesy garlic bread, nachos (#2) that you stack up with salsa, jalapeños and cheese and bake in the oven, soup or crackers and toppings. For mains, roasted potato wedges, homemade pizza, homemade burgers, homemade chicken goujons or meatballs. And for dessert you could get them to make cookies or cupcakes, or you could have those prepared and get each child to decorate. Or for a real treat, get them to make honeycomb and dip in melted chocolate. For drinks they could create smoohties, milkshake or hot chocolate with marshmallows.
- Party Games: The children should be kept busy with the cooking but if they finish early you could arrange some blind tasting games, guess what is in the bag game, add a piece of fruit or a vegetable to a bag and get them to feel it and guess what is in there, Test their food knowledge by asking some foodie questions. Or treasure hunt – add some ‘treasure’ to cold cooked spaghetti, blindfold each guest and get them to search for the treasure in the spaghetti. Or they could customise their aprons.
- Party Bags: Cupcakes or cookies that the children have created. Apron and chefs had. Mini baking set or icing set. Mini cupcake tray or mixing bowl.
Recommended Reading: 12 Kids Birthday Cake Ideas